Reading: It’s all in the mind

 

 

In Publishing News this week.

The Writer’s Strike is over (provisionally.)

Many Film and TV writers are hailing this as a landmark ruling for the way it is putting constraints on the use of AI in their industry. As the news filters out, everyone is eager to look at the terms and commenting on why the networks and producers only started to negotiate 10 days ago. 

 

The Atlantic published a search database you can use to see whether your books have been scraped to train an AI. Many writers have discovered their whole catalogue on there. SSF writers have been especially hard hit. But today I learned an academic family member had two of her textbooks scraped. The Authors Guild has got their lawyers onto it and have published a template take down notice as well as a What To Do Now statement.

 

Meanwhile, in other AI news the AI industry is looking for poets or anyone who has an MFA to teach their AI’s how to write lyrical language. 

 

There is a publishing world outside the western centric one. Nairobi is about to have their International Book Fair and they have added a rights market into their programme. Guests are coming from around the world. Publishing Perspectives looks at what is on offer.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard takes a look at the new sales pot for Kindle Unlimited and compares it to the Print figures which have been sliding.

 

Staying with Amazon, the book business applauded when the Federal Trade Commission of the United States began an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon. Take 17 state attorneys and 172 pages and stir in the words “uses a set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies to illegally maintain its monopoly power” and you get a lawsuit that will take years to unravel. At least it’s a start.

 

You have finished the book and now you have to edit it. Where do you start? Kobo has the answer. How to edit your first draft.

 

Kris Rusch is a power house and there is nothing in publishing that she has not done. The big chat around the Indie publishing community is owning your own store and selling there first before going out to the online distributors. This week she talks about merchandise and all things store related with the launch of her first series store. Take a look and have your mind blown.

 

When an Indie Press ceases to be, it makes the publishing world a little gloomier. Louise Walters writes about the hard decision to shut her press and her thoughts on why Indie Presses need more love from bookshops.

 

Are you struggling with Social Media? Ambre Leffler has an interesting post on managing your energy and your posts.

 

Have you been asked to Beta read or are you wondering about how to set up parameters for your Beta readers. Jae from Sapphicquill has a great checklist for authors to use.

If you just need a reason to read, check out Molly Templeton’s 21 thoughts about reading habits.

 

The Bookbub website is chock full of interesting articles on writing and marketing books . This week they have a comprehensive 140 tips for book marketing from AJ Lee

 

In The Craft Section,

3 ways to use Theme to deepen your story- Sharon Skinner

Changing the hero’s goal- Michael Hauge- Bookmark

Tropes as a jumping off point- Richard Thomas- Bookmark

Tips for writing a character that you hate- Sue Coletta

Transition sentences- Ruth Harris- Bookmark 

Using Description- Kathy Steinemann

 

In The Marketing Section,

2 great posts from Penny Sansevieri 7 creative ways to boost local book sales and

Holding book events in non-traditional venues- Bookmark

Identifying the 5 core ideas of your book- Judith Briles-Bookmark

3 design secrets for captivating book ads- Teresa Conner-Bookmark

How to glo up your Instagram- Lara Ferrari

 

To Finish,

Every year The Alliance of Independent Authors run 3 virtual 24 hour conferences. Each of these conferences are themed around a different skillset for authors and are filled with a wealth of information. The next conference is on Mindset. They have a great line up of speakers well known in the author community. (Spot the Kiwis.)

Sign up. It’s free. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

 

If you want the weekly blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash

Reading The Blurb

 

In Publishing News this week,

 

We’ve all seen the puff quotes on the jackets of books. The name dropping- famous author loved it… but what happens when the book gets negative reviews and the publisher picks out words and throws them on the cover as praise. You get the backlash. Could puff quotes be over?

 

Penguin Random House (PRH) has had a jolly good half year. They have nearly made double digits in revenue. Even though they did not get Simon and Schuster that hasn’t stopped them snapping up smaller fruit.

 

Ingram is expanding its Print On Demand capabilities. With some big POD hubs in different parts of the globe they are challenging the sustainability of those big print runs out of China. 

 

Mark Williams shines a spotlight on the Music industry and how their revenue has grown over the last decade. It is broken down by genre. The music industry is always ahead of the publishing industry…what lessons can publishers take from all the numbers. Is children’s publishing the rock music buying equivalent?

 

Publishers Weekly is heralding the return of author tours with delight. Booksellers are gearing up for sell out author tours. Are we getting back to normal again? Or will Hybrid events be the new way to go? After the covid years is there even any money for author tours?

 

You’ve finished the book. You’ve scaled Mount Strunk and White. You’re ready for the big reward and yet you feel…flat. Ruth Harris has a great post on the 3 R’s of a successful writing career.

 

Are you struggling with the whole social media problem? The common complaint what should I post I’m a fiction writer… and which social media? Read this great post from Jessica Thompson. You can apply it to all sorts of social media.

 

Chat GPT or AI assisted writing has been in the news pretty much all year. If you are unsure about what sort of a tool it is to help you check out this posts on the 6 useful prompts for fiction writers.

 

You should be reading in your genre but how do you choose the books that you will get the most out of? Book Coach Robin Henry has a comprehensive post on How to read to elevate your writing practice. 

 

Sometimes the book of your heart… or the story that won’t let you go takes an awfully long gestational time. Stephanie Cowell writes about a story that has taken 39 years to pin down. When your favourite novel takes a long long time to write.

 

In The Craft Section,

Raise the stakes by making it personal- Angela Ackerman

8 different types of scenes- K M Weiland- Bookmark

4 tips for memorable characters- Lisa Hall Wilson

Setting- the versatile tool - C S Lakin- Bookmark

Hide exposition inside confrontation- James Scott Bell- Bookmark

13 tips for powerful pacing- Lynette Burrows- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Step by step marketing- Penny Sansevieri

Compelling descriptions- Sandra Beckwith

Marketing vs publicity- Kelly Rendina- Bookmark

27 things to promote your book- Brian Feinblum- Bookmark

Direct sales strategies- Bookbub- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Stephen King is often quoted as saying You can’t be a Writer if you are not a Reader, or words to that effect. This week Kris Rusch shines a spotlight on reading practice. Have you got out of the habit of reading? It happens. I have a friend who works with words all day and struggles to read anything for pleasure. Do you still love reading? 

You must fill the well of words if you want to keep drinking from the well. 

Ask yourself these questions. What books do you escape into? Challenge yourself with? Comfort reads? Keeping up with the genre reads? If you are struggling to name a book you’ve read for pleasure in the last month, make a date with a comfort book and rediscover your joy. Your writing will thank you for it.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here to join our happy band.

 

If you want this blog in your inbox subscribe to the Substack version.

 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic Photo by Blaz Photo on Unsplash

The Rumours Are True

 

 

In Publishing News this week....

Earlier in the year I wrote of a rumour that TikTok would start a shop…and now they have. They aren’t selling books in it yet… but publishers will be wondering when. An important side note though, with the ownership of the TikTok site being controversial, many states and countries are looking at ways to limit its influence. If you build a business only on TikTok it could disappear overnight. Mark Williams points out that English Language publishers could be heading for a disaster here.

 

Big Bad Wolf is back. For new readers BBW is an outfit that buys up remaindered English language books from publishers and sells them in huge 24/7 book sales in Asia and Indonesia. The numbers are eye watering… and show that there is a huge market for these books in other countries. (Not to mention, a quick way to get a fast buck without the author getting a slice of the sale.)

 

Do you remember the HarperCollins strike from earlier in the year? (BTW the TV/Film writer’s strike is still ongoing.) It may have been resolved but HarperCollins seems to have mislaid payment of some outstanding bills to content writers. Lawsuits about to start.

 

In welcome news the USA Today Bestsellers list is back after its hiatus. The USA Today list is only judged on book sales across many outlets so often gives a truer picture of what is selling compared to other lists where list placement can bought.

 

Children’s writers were thoroughly approving when Michael Rosen was awarded the Pen Pinter prize "for the ability to address the serious matters of life in a spirit of joy, humour, and hope." 

 

I can already tell that Kris Rusch’s new series on niche marketing is going to be another epic series. This week she talks about multiple newsletters and why they are a good idea.

 

Recently I have seen questions from writers who have been diagnosed with ADHD about how they can manage the diagnosis and also write effectively. This article recently published in an online journal might shed some light. Other ADHD writers find that writing sprints work very well for getting the words down.

 

Writer’s Digest has a spotlight on Sacha Black – Sacha besides writing lots of books, also runs the Rebel Author podcast and has a popular series of writing craft books. It’s a great interview.

 

Writers In The Storm have an article from Karen DeBonis on What I didn’t expect after publishing my book? Post publishing depression is a real thing.

 

Insecure Writers Support Group have an interesting post on archetypes- using Christopher Vogler’s Writers journey book for inspiration.

 

Have you thought about using onomatopoeia in your stories? This article looks at how words like rattle and screech add life to your writing. 

 

 

In The Craft Section,

What does you character want-K M Weiland- Bookmark

Using Story Structure to your advantage- Janice Hardy – Bookmark

How to determine your books timespan- C S Lakin- Bookmark

Positive traits can have drawbacks- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

Save the cat beat sheet- Kindlepreneur- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

How to write a book proposal- Reedsy – Bookmark

How to Quick Pitch your book- Ruth Harris- Bookmark

Adding direct sales to your website – Written Word Media- Bookmark

What can be author swag – Bookmark

7 tips to boost your Author homepage- Camilla Monk-Bookmark

 

To Finish,

I came across this article from Colleen Story on 5 ways writers are like aliens from outer space. How dare she expose us. Yes, the truth is out there. We have been discovered. Luckily, all is not lost. Our eccentric ways are fully justified if we call ourselves writers. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It's nearly time for my monthly newsletter. If you want the best of my bookmarked links and other interesting extras you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

 Pic: Photo by Albert Antony on Unsplash

Challenging Pages

 

 

In Publishing News this week,

The Guardian published two interesting articles based on sessions at the Literature festivals.

Author Rebecca Kuang spoke about authors writing about other races. She rejects the idea that authors must stay in their own racial lane. 

Meanwhile, French author Annie Ernaux awarded the Nobel prize for Literature last year declared it was an unwelcome surprise.

 

Publishing Perspectives reports on how Pen America is tracking educational gag orders which have risen very sharply in the last few years. This is of particular concern to universities who have mandates to allow free speech. I saw one statistic lately that showed out of 1000 book challenges the bulk of them were filed by just 11 people. 

 

The Association of American Publishers released their stat shot of all the numbers for the last publishing year. Paperbacks outsold hardbacks… online selling outsold physical. If you like deep dives into interesting stats on the health of American publishing, check out all the graphs.

 

NFT”s are quietly bubbling away in the background. Goodereader takes a dive into Literary Non Fungible Tokens and why they have some merit for authors. When you buy an ebook you actually buy the license to read it. NFT’s are a permanent buy of a digital product. If that is slightly hurting your head- The company behind Webtoon digital comics and Anime is investing in NFT avatars that will speak and move… tell your stories etc. (Ready Player One is almost here.)

 

The world is catching on to AI and calls to curb its influence are growing among tech founders. Many countries are only just starting to grapple with the impacts on copyright. Laws are being examined to see if they cover AI generated work. Because the publishing world is moving slowly on its response to AI, Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld Science Fiction magazine has put together a series of belief statements that publishing industry people can sign on to. It is still in draft mode but is getting quite a bit of attention.

 

Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard has eviscerated Markus Dohle ex CEO of PRH over his speech at Sharjah last month. Mark pulls out all the facts and figures and shows up Dohle’s errors to devastating effect. OUCH.

 

Ruth Harris writes about writer wannabes and authors who have literary cooties. Every writer has experienced one or the other or unfortunately both. How do you deal with these people who want to rain on your parade or you personally? Ruth has some sweet revenge.

 

Kris Rusch has an interesting blog post on facing the future. She states that the writers who face the future will be the ones to survive it. She has some pretty compelling arguments based on recent publishing history. 

 

Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur has some great free resources for writers so take the time to trawl around the site. If you are looking for writing inspiration check out the book ideas post.

 

In The Craft Section,

5 ways to use your character shadows- K M Weiland- Bookmark

How AI can help strengthen your writing- Keri Kruspe

The virtues of non linear writing- Scott Myers

Character tropes- The innocent- Angela Ackerman- Bookmark

How to manage a difficult book- Rachel Toalson- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Tips to improve newsletter design – Sue Coletta- Bookmark

5 things I wish I knew before publishing- Jenna Podjasek

Book marketing rundown (updated) Make sure you scroll down.-Rachel Thompson – Bookmark

Book Marketing truths- Angela Ackerman- Useful information 

How to create a Book Trailer- Elaine Dodge

 

To Finish,

Today the finalists of the New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults  were announced. Congratulations to all. As a previous judge of these awards I know just how hard it is to judge and many who missed out would have come achingly close.

Writer Unboxed has an article from Julianna Baggot about how hard this writing game is. 

If you finish writing a book you have already achieved what most aspire to but never do. 

As Julianna says, we have outer critics and we have inner critics, she offers ways to handle both.

"We need to protect our relationship with the page. Doing what we love is challenging but worth it."

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

It’s nearly time for my monthly newsletter to go out. If you want the best of my bookmarked links you can subscribe here to join our happy band.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash

 

Under The Skin

 

In Publishing News this week,

Many writers muttered Hallelujah when Ingram Spark announced they were making print file uploads of Print On Demand books free along with free revisions for the first 60 days. There was general joy all around the publishing socials. They wouldn’t have changed their policy because every other print POD service is free would it?

 

Business Insider reports that Tiktok has registered a publishing press trademark. I wonder how they are going to advertise their books to readers or reviewers or even how they will go about getting books to publish? Now all they need is a buy button…

 

The Writers Guild of America called their TV writer members out on strike. This last happened about 16 years ago… and suddenly there was lots of Reality TV popping up. The writers have been screwed by streaming. The New Yorker lays out the case.

 

The arrest of a Taiwan publisher visiting relatives in China is making the Asian book industry nervous. The disappearance of the writer and publisher is being highlighted by news agencies around the world, reports The Guardian.

 

The UK Publishing Association reports that they had a bumper year last year with physical book sales up. Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard points out that their reported numbers have huge million dollar holes. What happened to their digital book industry?

Mark also points out the double standard over Storytel Norway being accused of favouring their own brand on their own platform. Who knew that was unethical? *coughAmazoncough*

 

Kris Rusch writes this week on the gradual breakdown of favourable terms for writers from Amazon. She has been an advocate of going wide for years. This is her last heads up blog post on the danger of putting all your sales eggs into one basket. All the signs are warning of an iceberg ahead.

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting post on Outlines, AI, and Stormy Daniels. Ruth tries her hand at using AI to write a blog post and concludes that the prose is very boring. Then she thought about a biography of Stormy Daniels….

 

Lit Reactor has a great article on books with a lack of character development and concludes it is not a problem. Do we really need to see the characters grow and change? Sometimes the fact that they don’t is comforting. 

 

In The Craft Section,

Assuaging the pain of punctuation- Tiffany Yates Martin - Bookmark

5 things to know about writing for teens- Jennifer De Leon

The difference between character archetypes and tropes- Becca Puglisi- Bookmark

What is a psycological thriller- Cailean Steed- Bookmark

What we can learn from reading bad fiction- Richard Thomas

 

In The Marketing Section,

7 tips for strategic pricing- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Critique sites- Kathy Steinemann

Should you pay an influencer- Sandra Beckwith

What goes on the copyright page- Darcy Pattison- Bookmark

Readerscout- new free tech from Kindlepreneur- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The 122 page book, Death Of An Author has been making small waves after it was recently published by Seth Godin’s press Pushkin Industries. 95% of this murder mystery is written by AI. The New York Times reviews it fairly. Some will like it. Some will hate it. 

Creativity is not under threat- yet. 

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

 It’s time for my monthly newsletter? If you want the best of my bookmarked links and other extras why not subscribe and join our merry band.

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate the virtual coffee love. Thanks.

Pic: Photo by Possessed Photography on Unsplash

Out There Doing The Business

 

 

In Publishing News This Week,

 

The Bologna Children’s Book Fair is on this week and the hot topic this year is AI and children’s books. Porter Anderson has a great overview of the various keynotes around this topic. He nails the constant chatter around AI as a chicken little syndrome. Remember when everyone thought publishing was doomed with Virtual Reality, enhanced eBooks and Kindle?

 

Penguin Random House is re-organising. This is a little shakeup which sees imprints spun off or repurposed and staff moving all over the place. Publishers Weekly has the details.

 

Bookshop.org picked up steam during the Covid lockdowns by providing a place where bookshops could link in their shops and sell books online. They started offering eBooks last week. Now they are offering print books and beginning to publish. It all feels like the early days of Amazon.

 

Meanwhile, Small Press Distributors a 50 year old distributor specializing in Indie Publishers has inked a deal with Ingram and will be offering their 400 clients Print On Demand, warehousing, and international printing. However, they need some money to transition all their warehouses to Ingram so they have a Go Fund Me campaign running.

 

The Alliance of Independent Authors is running an author income survey. If you spent 50% of your time writing and publishing they want to hear from you. Apparently, the data so far is amazing. You only have a few days to participate. 

 

Mark Leslie Lefebvre has a great post on the Insights blog 10 tips for growing a global audience of readers. I’ve had this open on my computer for a few days as I mull over the excellent tips in here. 

 

Book Riot has collected what they think are the 25 iconic covers of all time. Do You Agree?

 

Ruth Harris has an interesting post on charisma and how too much could be psychopathic. Are you writing a psychopathic hero?

 

Victoria Strauss has a great article on Writer Unboxed about red flags in contracts. Do you know how to spot one? Where to look? The cluses that are most problematic. She shows examples of real contracts that she has seen. Ouch!

 

Grace Bialecki has an interesting post on the Acknowledgments page. How often do you look at it? It is actually full of great information… from editors who worked on the book and agents that repped it to writing awards and residences you might not have heard off. Grace shows how to put this information to good use. 

 

Kris Rusch has a super post on AI Audio and what she is finding out as she delves into whether AI Audio is worth pursuing. It is all about formats. Audio is expanding so much it will soon look like print.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when you say you are a writer someone will always reply, I’ve always wanted to write a book. Angela Ackerman has a great post that you can share around – 13 Tips On How To Write A Book From Start to Finish.

 

In The Craft Section,

A great article on reader anticipation- Donald Maass

How to edit- StoryGrid- BOOKMARK

Tips on How to write a mystery-K M Weiland

The 5 turning points of the character arc- Janice Hardy- Bookmark

How to amp up your conflict- Angela Ackerman

 

In The Marketing Section,

A step by step guide to using Booktok

Bad book marketing advice- Shayla Raquel

2 Great posts from Penny Sansevieri-

The definitive guide to creating a reader magnet and 

How to get more Goodreads reviews- Bookmark both

Bookfunnels explained- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

The Guardian has an article on the rise of older female writers with recent hits by debut authors over 70. And the authors are not writing cozy stories. They are edgy and angry. There are some great quotes in this article. More power to them I say.

 

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here.

This blog is fueled by coffee. If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate all virtual coffee love. Thanks.

 

Pic:  Brooke Lark on Unsplash

 

Publishers Behaving Badly – Are they really clueless?

 

In Publishing News this week…

 I was contacted today by a writer notifying me of a new scam… on the surface I saw nothing wrong but the writer pointed out that the agent in question should have never used the words 'payment remittance advice' from a financial controller. 

Now you may think that is so under the radar as to be easily overlooked but the author in question went back to the agent. (Note: You should always do this. Ring them and talk in person.) The agent had clicked on a link and inadvertently installed malware on his computer which then gathered up all his email addresses and used them to contact authors… promising money which the authors clicked on spreading the malware. 

Authors are so poorly paid, of course we are going to click on anything that promises us royalties. 

However, this kind of scam targets the financial affairs of agents and publishers. How many of them have tight controls over who can access their financial accounts… and their authors financial accounts? How secure are they? The author who alerted me to this commented that with everyone having to use 2 factor identification all the time elsewhere it seems absurd that publishers and agents aren’t doing the same to limit peoples access to their own accounts. 

Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware has updated the fake agent scam that hit last year… it seems there are many variations around and this year the scam trend continues. Over Summer I had a fascinating conversation with a bank analyst who told me the biggest banking scams were targeting lawyers who thought they were savvy. Always check up- by phone, not return email. 

Meanwhile Publishers Weekly reports that Adelaide Books who got into hot water when they grew too quickly and fell over when Covid hit is trying to make things right. But it is a cautionary tale which has the Authors Guild spluttering with rage on behalf of the 450 authors involved.

 

Publishing Perspectives has named the main stage speakers for London Book Fair. The usual CEO’s are speaking but the subjects reflect the hot topics in Traditional publishing; copyrights, licensing, sustainability of their business, supply chain woes, along with inclusivity and how to get more eyeballs. I wonder if they will come up with any solutions?

 

Sales numbers are a hot topic if you are a publishing CEO – The latest figures from Nielsen and the Association of American Publishers makes interesting reading or if you’re Mark Williams of The New Publishing Standard only a pointer to what he has worked out is the true figure, which is many billions more than Nielsen and AAP think.

 

With the news this week that Harper Collins is going into mediation with its striking staff – a muted cheer went up among HC authors and agents. Today Harper Collins announced they are laying off 5% of their workforce- OUCH.

 

AI images and the threat to income dominates the artists water cooler talk. Two of the main image suppliers Getty and Shutterstock have formed opposing camps. Shutterstock is partnering with AI and Getty has released a formal statement taking AI to court.

 

In lighter news…

Kris Rusch has an interesting tale around the theme the problems in your writing are the problems in your life.

Ruth Harris asks if you are guilty of the Writing No No’s which may be ruining your book and Daphne Grey- Grant has an interesting article on how to prepare an annual writing plan.

 

In The Craft Section,

Units of story- StoryGrid- Bookmark

2 great articles from the Dream Team. How to choose the right 

kind of conflict and How does internal conflict fit into the character arc- Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

Transition sentences- Grammarly – Bookmark

Developing a scene outline for your novel C S Lakin- Bookmark

 

In The Marketing Section,

Should you hire a book publicist- Sandra Beckwith- Bookmark

10 tips for author blog traffic- Anne R Allen

7 ways to build direct connections with readers- podcast with Penny Sansevieri

8 author website marketing mistakes- Penny Sansevieri- Bookmark

Selling Books direct- Joanna Penn in conversation with Steve Pieper- Bookmark

 

To Finish,

Elizabeth Spann Craig has a nifty blog with a great roundup of articles but this week she shone a spotlight onto her  7 favourite resources for writers. Do you use any of them? If you have something to add to the list – feel free to comment below.

Maureen

@craicer

 

Do you want the best of my bookmarked links in a handy monthly newsletter? You can subscribe here. 

If you like the blog and want to shout me a coffee, hit the coffee button up top or here. I appreciate virtual coffee love.

Thanks.

 

Pic: Photo by Alexander Krivitskiy on Unsplash